Values Based Leadership

Narayan Murthy,  when asked what management ideas influenced him on his journey with Infosys, replied that more than management ideas, he "set store in values:fairness,accountability, transparency. The rest then fall into place." Citing an instance of fairness, which says you have to provide equal opportunity, he says he once had four women direct reports - an instance of diversity,  which flourishes in such an environment.

Call to #action
Which of my values are reflected in my leadership?

Leap From The Comfort Zone

A king received a gift of two magnificent falcons and called in his head falconer to train them. Some months later the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying, the other had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived. The king summoned the best healers and sorcerers and healers to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. Having tried everything else, the king decided to call in someone familiar with the countryside - a farmer. In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high in the sky. He immediately ordered his courtiers to bring him the doer of this miracle. When the farmer arrived,  the king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?" " It was very easy, your highness, the farmer replied  I simply cut the branch of the tree where the bird was sitting."

#My Learning
I am most comfortable in my comfort zones because within it, I can operate with certainty and least risk. Can I take the leap?

Wise Leadership

In the week in August that saw more than $1 trillion wiped out from the Asian markets making people around the world jittery, a memo went out from the CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz. The email to his employees urging them to be more sensitive to anxious customers, said,"Today's financial market volatility, combined with great uncertainty both at and abroad,  will undoubtedly have an effect on consumer confidence and perhaps even or customers'attitudes and behavior...Let's be very sensitive to the pressures our customers may be feeling, and do everything we can to individually and collectively exceed their expectations."

Wise leaders care for the needs and feelings of their people and customers. Their sensitivity makes them to respond at the right time and in the right way. In turn, people and customers return their gratitude, by helping wise leaders make their enterprise a success.

Leading Under Pressure

"It is harder to lead when you are not scoring runs but that is when your character and fighting qualities as a leader come out. " - Brendon McCullum, New Zealand skipper on leading from the front.

Play Your Cards Right

I realised my face was never going to be my fortune,  I decided to impress ladies by tickling their palate - good food, full-bodied wine, candlelight and my storytelling powers are a lethal combination.  It has always worked. - Prahlad Kakkar, ad guru.

#MyLearning
Reminded of what Randy Pausch said, "we cannot change the cards we are dealt with, just how we play the hand."

9 Thoughts to Craft The Leader In You

Though much of the art and science of leadership remains unchanged over time, it needs to be crafted to suit the needs of the current environment. The following stories of contemporary leaders and views of leadership gurus, should give you food for thought to craft your individual leadership style and craft it to suit your time and context.. 

1.Reinvent Yourself  

"Companies fail or are successful because they either get or miss market transitions", says John Chambers, CEO and Chairman of Cisco. ..."What Cisco has done is that we compete on market transitions, not against competitors...We have reinvented ourselves five times"

Reinventing is not a necessary evil to be undertaken to undertake to survive. Being inquisitive - a hankering to learn new things, can lead to seeing the world of work as an opportunity and make it easier to adapt - a quality essential in the present times.

2 Give your people permission to fail

"One of the saddest things that happen with creativity...I think sometimes it isn't expressed because of fear," says Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. "Everyone is born very very creative. But at some point it can be scary to do something new." To overcome this fear, Snapchat encourages the idea of 'failing fast', since it's better that those failures happen in private before being released on users.

3.Play for Win-Win

Unlike Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella is clear that times have changed and he is taking tough decisions. For him,  competition is not a zero sum game. Just because Android wins does not mean Microsoft loses.  If Android wins great. I'll also put Office 365 on Android so it can be a win - win,  it doesn't have to be a win - lose.

3. Make the right life choices

"There is nothing like work-life balance, there is only one life", believes Padmasree Warrior, former CTSO of Cisco. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman Of Microsoft India, agrees with her wholeheartedly. "You live life the way you want it. Life is about choices," he say

4.Practice brevity in communication

A Microsoft research reports that the average person's attention span is just 8 seconds, a second less than that of a goldfish.  For humans it used to be 12 seconds in 2000. Abundant reason why CEOs and you and me, need to communicate well internally and externally in the most effective manner.

5. Surround yourself with the best people

Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Strategist usually gets involved worn CEOS in their first 100 days  that they  build up their credibility quickly. And this what she tells them, in that order - listen to customers, surround yourself with the best senior management and communicate with the board.

6. Make your knowledge 'future ready'
"Half-life of knowledge is getting shorter and shorter with new breakthrough technologies and discoveries," says Management Guru Jagdish Seth, Management guru.."Therefore old perspectives and evidence are no longer relevant.We need to develop or discover new perspectives which are suitable for tomorrow's world"

7. Tailor your communication to the audience

Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik explains how in the Gita, there is a three way communication between Krishna the speaker, and three receivers; Arjuna, the seeker of knowledge, Sanjay the transmitter of the knowledge  and Dhritirashtra, who is eager to know only the fate of his sons. This, Devdutt observes, is aimed to draw attention to the complexity of any communication. Are people around you interested in what you are saying (Arjuna),  are they merely memorising (Sanjay), or are they just disinterested or even suspicious (Dhritirashtra)? 

Tailor your communication accordingly.

8. Be Considerate of your people

On his last journey from Guwahati to Shillong for a speaking engagement, the late president's car was being escorted in front by three soldiers travelling in a Gypsy. Seeing one of them standing throughout the journey, Kalam repeatedly asked his aide to request him to sit down, but his aide was not able to get him on the phone. At the end of the journey, Kalam invited the soldier to his room, shook hands with him, thanked him and enquired whether he had eaten.

9. Appreciate - Motivate

Debutant Actress Ruhi Singh says, "When you enter the sets of (film director) Madhur Bhandarkar's film, you hear words like 'jalwa' (charisma/luster/ splendor) and 'aag laga de' (be on fire) which is a driving force for us. I had to shoot a waterfall sequence in the night, and it was freezing cold. But I could only do it because (Madhur) makes sure everyone feels comfortable before filming." 


Call To Action
Time to craft your own leadership recipe? Set the fire going!